Its bloody hard work. The thing I find the biggest challenge is keeping on top of the washing and ironing, I wash every night and put it out to dry or on the airer every morning then I iron it every night. If I don't the ironing pile becomes enormous. I do bits of housework every day after work to avoid having to do the whole house at the weekend. It is a nightmare trying to keep on top of everything, I would love a cleaner!

Do some every day. Washer gets put on at night, stuff out on line before work or thrown on the radiators.Clean kitchen as I go, dishwasher loaded as I use stuff then put on at bedtime. Ds empties it before breakfast and it all starts again.I Hoover while tea cooks every 2-3 days.Ironing gets done while watching country file on a Sunday.Wipe shower/ bath out every other day. Bleach chucked down the loo and bathroom deal cleaned on a Sat morning.Ds also puts recycling out, and puts bins out.

I spend about 40 minutes a day on it after and before work.It's relentless but I'm a clean freak so it has to be done.

That was a flippant answer, but you didn't specify that the couples had to have them, and they do increase the amount of cooking/cleaning/washing/tidying that needs to be done (usually by more than another adult would).

We have low standards. Priorities are dd and clean laundry so we have stuff to wear for work. Everything else is a bonus.

We do the dishes once a day. If that is before we cook tea, then tea dishes wait til the next day. Dinner is our stopping point so anything not done by the time we sit down to eat (7.30/8pm) doesnt get done.

You use it, when you have finished you put it away/in the bin/in the wash.Toilet you make a mess you clean it. Bathroom, you use it you clean it. Even the dc's know they have a bath, they need to clean it afterwards.Floors all get hoovered when dinner is cooking.A load of washing gets done nightly. Dried. Folded/hung and put away. None of that ironing milarkly... Used to until I realised the hours I was spending doing something that doesn't need doing. Floors mopped a couple of times a week apart from kitchen and toilet which are done nightly. Windows when needed. Frames, handles, bannister and surfaces every night. Takes 5 minutes with wipes.Kitchen cupboards lined with newspaper. Paper gets grotty, take out item, reline, restack, sorted.Shaving tins etc in bathroom, coat the bottom with vaseline. No more scrubbing rings from surfaces.

Also get rid of stuff. Seriously. I had a massive clear out. The amount of crap I binned, sold and gave away I could have partially kitted out another 3 bed house. Was ridiculous. My kitchen has lots of cupboards. Not only were all of them full, but the top of the fridge/freezer/microwave and every surface had stuff on. All of which needed moving to be cleaned and under it. Now I see my sides and have empty cupboards. I did this in every room. Less crap means less time cleaning. All the crap you have needs wiping. All the crap you have needs moving so you can clean underneath it. Now I see something I ask myself do I really need it or want it. Is it really worth buying to clean it.

Takes less than 30 minutes a day. Tried the whole save it for the weekend. After 2 months of loosing a whole day, every week, realised that it wasn't worth it and went back to daily.

Have a routine and small kids can help out. DD turned two in July and she put away her plastic plates and cutlery while I empty the rest of the dishwasher. Since she did such a great job I let her take on the additional responsibility of feeding the dog this past Tuesday.

We also spend money on good cleaning products. My vacuum cleaner cost an arm and a leg but it is great. I can do the whole house in less than an hour. Dishwasher has a 1hr cycle that we use. It is run every night no matter how much is in there and it is emptied before bed.

Best tips are to all have showers in the AM/PM. First one (DH) in sprays the bleach 5mins before the run the water and the last one in dries down the walls with the towel (me). Also I vacuum daily because we have a golden.

Hi , we both work ft , have an 18 month dd. I do have a cleaner who comes either once a week or fortnightly . In between I get up early and whizz around hoovering ( washing up always done after each meal plus cleaning as we go along ... Bath toilet and kitchen also cleaned daily . I can get it done in an hour .....

We can't afford a cleaner so we have for some other ways. We have a monthly clear out. We help the DC with their rooms, and we check the clothes- we use a hanger thing- if you use it, you turn the hanger the other way. If, in a year, it hasn't been used, it's out. Because we have monthly clear outs, we have very little clutter. We also have three boxes which we use at any time- one fr a charity shop, one for throwing away and one for general tat which no one claims ownership of and so we can decide at the end of the month.

We have a toy tidy rule. If you aren't playing, you put it away BUT you can have things like Lego creations or a set up which you will use tomorrow or whatever to stay of course. Each night it's a scrabble round, it's fun for the DC.

We have good storage. We give sticker charts for tidy rooms at night, and on the weekends, by lunchtime too. So the possibility of 9 stickers for that one chore.

We split the housework so that the DC put washing in the basket (older ones for younger ones too) and can switch the washing machine on and put stuff in (older two only) and we try and get on top of stuff.

So I make sure that my desk area is completely tidy every day so it doesn't get too cluttered. I clear out clutter from the living room regularly because it takes five minutes due to doing it regularly, compared to half an hour if I let it build up.

We have a stop point. We can't care less. In the house, the DC, laundry and no clutter is what we do best. Hoovering and dusting and cleaning windows reserved for when only necessary. Clutter is easy if you do it as you go along, and as the DC are good about their own laundry, it means that ironing is easier. We don't iron too often, but it's relatively quick and easy.

When doing some work, do some other work too. Waiting for something to cook? Use that time to iron half the load. Or check the fridge or ask the DC to help you tidy up the house, and make it a game as mine are young.

And being able to relax. At 7, we stop. Only things we do after would be a toy clear up just before bedtime, and washing up after supper. We try and split tasks, like yesterday, I might have spent 10mins putting bits and bobs into the right places and 5mins doing the washing up, and DH spent about that time on ironing, washing up and sweeping the kitchen floor as it got messier than usual. So 15mins each but it means we don't have to buckle down and work for an 1hr.

Get a dishwasher, don't buy anything that can't go in it. Don't buy anything that needs ironing. Double cook and freeze where possible. Alternate night's cooking with dh while the other does some cleaning/tidying.